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For more than a century, the Dewey Decimal Classification system has dictated the way libraries organize their collections. And the way they organize and sort information says a lot about what kind of information is prioritized鈥攁nd what鈥檚 left out.

Books on Indigenous communities often get looped into the history section. As a result, information on Native peoples literally gets left in the past.

X瘫wi7x瘫wa Library (pronounced whei-wha) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, is working to change that. The library aims to counter Western, colonial bias and better reflect the knowledge of Indigenous peoples. By offering an alternative to the widely used Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classification systems, this library aims to take steps toward decolonizing the way information is sorted, cataloged, and shared.

Amy Parent, a 2014 graduate of UBC and member of the Nisga’a Nation, used X瘫wi7x瘫wa to conduct research as a graduate student studying Indigenous education. But it was the librarians鈥� efforts to reach out and get to know their library鈥檚 visitors that stood out to Parent.

鈥淭hey are very much aligned with the way we form relationships with our communities,鈥� Parent said. Parent said the librarians at X瘫wi7x瘫wa get to know visitors on a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual level.

X瘫wi7x瘫wa librarians ask about visitors鈥� families, they help visitors establish connections with other X瘫wi7x瘫wa users, and they attend UBC鈥檚 Indigenous events to make connections with more students. They also ask about a visitor鈥檚 interests so librarians can help in research; Parent said they鈥檇 often put aside materials they thought she鈥檇 be interested in.

For Indigenous visitors, it鈥檚 a safe space. For non-Indigenous folks, Parent said, it鈥檚 a welcoming learning experience.

Sandy Littletree, an Indigenous librarian and researcher of Indigenous knowledge, remembers first experiencing bias in Western libraries while an undergraduate at New Mexico State University. At the time, Littletree planned to focus her studies on adult literacy with a focus in Native American education. But when she searched her library鈥檚 database for books on the topic, she couldn鈥檛 find anything.

When Littletree later began studying librarianship in graduate school, she found subject headings were part of the issue. Subject headings sort Native topics into the history-related sections of the DDC. As a result, Native peoples are treated as historic artifacts instead of a living group of people with present-day struggles.

Additionally, mainstream library systems reflect Western methods of sorting information, rather than Indigenous methods. Canadian First Nations libraries organize information on Indigenous communities geographically according to region, Littletree said, reflecting a sense of place. Systems like the DDC and Library of Congress, on the other hand, sort according to alphabetical order.

The systems are not really designed with our language and our behavior for research.

鈥淭he systems are not really designed with our language and our behavior for research,鈥� Littletree said. On top of differing categorization methods, she said, the systems also can鈥檛 easily incorporate Native American languages that use non-Roman characters in the spelling of certain words.

Western bias also plays a role in the way Indigenous literature gets shelved. Native American creation stories get sorted with folklore or fairytales, for example, while biblical tales are in the nonfiction section.

Practices like these reinforce colonial cultural traditions while undermining Native culture. 鈥淭hose subtle messages can be picked up by Native people,鈥� Littletree said.

X瘫wi7x瘫wa helps counter this bias by more accurately representing Indigenous knowledge and culture.

It does that by using a cataloging and classification system that was designed by an Indigenous librarian. X瘫wi7x瘫wa uses an adapted version of the Brian Deer Classification system, a cataloging system created in 1974 by Brian Deer, a Kahnawake librarian.

The system incorporates Indigenous perspectives when categorizing books. One of the most important ways it does this, said acting head librarian at X瘫wi7x瘫wa Adolfo Tarango, is by using subject headings that reflect a tribe鈥檚 preferred name.

鈥淲esterners use their labels, so it makes tribes invisible,鈥� Tarango said. 鈥淭his is a way of reestablishing identity and saying these are our names and these our people.鈥�

By using Indigenous names and with Indigenous librarians on staff, X瘫wi7x瘫wa is able to provide a resource that organizes information in a way to which Indigenous students are more accustomed.

But it鈥檚 not just Indigenous students who benefit. The library is also intended to serve as a learning tool for non-Indigenous students.

鈥淭he more ways you look at things, the more understanding you have,鈥� Tarango said. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 a really promising thing for non-Indigenous communities.鈥�

In fact, that鈥檚 what Tarango and his co-workers at X瘫wi7x瘫wa consider to be the most important part about the library. As the UBC community grows, so does the opportunity for developing a more inclusive categorization system. That means raising awareness about bias and incorporating input from the non-Indigenous community into the way the library operates.

Rather than shelving books alphabetically, X瘫wi7x瘫wa organizes their collection by geographic location. Books on coastal nations are grouped in one section, while information on northern nations are in another.

Kim Lawson, a X瘫wi7x瘫wa librarian in charge of community outreach, said this aspect of X瘫wi7x瘫wa not only helps students find specific information on tribes, but it emphasizes the importance Native communities put on the connection to a place.

鈥淚t makes research easier, but informally, it also teaches,鈥� Lawson said. She said X瘫wi7x瘫wa鈥檚 categorization system makes it easier for the UBC community to connect with the many different tribes in British Columbia, as well as tribes from other North American regions.

Tarango said the struggle is educating non-Indigenous students on how libraries鈥� use of Western subject headings and categorization methods negatively impact Native peoples.

鈥淧art of the challenge is to articulate the need to those people who aren鈥檛 aware and hopefully get their buy-in that these are issues that need to be addressed,鈥� Tarango said.

And alternatives to mainstream categorization systems can only do so much to address colonial bias.

Littletree said books usually come into a library with a subject heading predetermined by the publisher. Even if a library is stocked with literature about Indigenous communities, the cultural depictions in these works may not be accurate.

Ultimately, library systems support 鈥渉istorical institutions and Western educations and contemporary state governments,鈥� at least to some extent, said Lawson. That鈥檚 because the publication industry, classification systems like the DDC and Library of Congress, and libraries themselves are all ultimately rooted in colonial ways of generating knowledge, she said.

Despite the limitations, Lawson and Tarango remain positive that a resource like X瘫wi7x瘫wa can generate productive conversations.

X瘫wi7x瘫wa has a section of the library dedicated to the books filled with harmful stereotypes and false information about Indigenous communities. Parent refers to it as the 鈥測uck shelf.鈥�

The librarians not only want to keep these books out of the rest of X瘫wi7x瘫wa鈥檚 collections, but provide an opportunity to explain to non-Indigenous folks why such material perpetuates stereotypes.

And Parent sees this shelf as important in teaching non-Native students to critically analyze common misinformation about Indigenous culture.

Tarango said that people are becoming more aware of the problem with mainstream categorization systems. And at the end of the day, that鈥檚 all that the librarians at X瘫wi7x瘫wa can hope for.

鈥淚 think we are in a very opportune moment where a 鈥� broader discussion [can] happen,鈥� he said.

And for former students like Parent, X瘫wi7x瘫wa continues to serve as an important resource. Today, Parent teaches Indigenous studies at Simon Fraser University. She often sends her students to X瘫wi7x瘫wa for research. The library is helping correct decades of inaccurate information circulated in mainstream libraries, she said.

The library鈥檚 Indigenous approach to categorization and relationship building with students makes it a beloved source of community for British Columbia鈥檚 Indigenous people.

鈥淕oing to X瘫wi7x瘫wa can be similar to the way you visit folks in Indigenous communities,鈥� Parent said. 鈥淪ometimes you stay for tea and a baked good.鈥�